Pages

Friday, December 21, 2012

The Continuing Adventures - Thessia & Sanctuary

Well, after wrapping up last weeks adventures, Shep heads back to the Citadel, to meet the Asari Councilor who tells us there is an artifact on the Asari homeworld which she thinks will give us the answers we need to finish the Death Star, erm, Crucible. Wait, why didn't they tell us this earlier? Why didn't she believe us about the Reapers all this time? Why...

You know what, better not to dwell on it. You might notice I've changed Shep's armor again. I changed it what to what I think of as 'Mass effect 2' default colors; i.e. grey and black rather than black and grey. I do not like how dark the made the default in ME3. It's sort of moot since the tech armor obscures it all anyway, but at least she looks rad in cutscenes. I know I say this in every post, but remember you can click to enlarge these. They are a lot bigger, since I figured out how to brush the bigger captures.

I was going to reference the earlier 'Reaper in the Mist' piece and call this Thessia...We Have A Problem.

The first time I played Mass Effect 3, I thought this mission was a lot closer to the end of the game than it ended up being. They even reference during the run to the temple a few times that once they reach the artifact, the Reapers are history. I wonder how many people would be happy to trade the last few levels for that ending?

This is why I cut Shep out of most of the in-level captures. The tech armor throws the color scale all of. See what I mean about it not really mattering how her armor looks, though?

But of course, nothing's that easy. Kai Leng has beat us there and through the magic of plot armor, defeats us by losing a 1-on-3 fight. I know. He blows up the temple and steals the data. Kai Leng's a jerk. This mission has a lot of extra back story if you take Javik, but I don't like Javik, so I take my main man Garrus.

I used this one even though the composition is awkward, because I like the fact that Shep's hair shows red. It really is, but the wonky lighting in so many of the missions makes it look black in the captures.

Liara is understandably upset about, you know, the doom of her homeworld. So, being the swell bondmate she is, Shep stops by to cheer her up.

Then with Traynor's info (why can't Liara have found this out...darn you for making me realize this Gotthammer!), we head off to Sanctuary on the planet Horizon. Like Eden Prime, real estate on Horizon must be getting rock bottom prices these days, what with the Collectors and now Cerberus and Reapers.

The weird thing about Shep in ME3 is that she pendulums between fairly homely and startlingly beautiful. I think this is one of her better moments. ME2 was much more consistent with facial animations.

While we're there, we squish some Reapers, Miranda throws her father through a window, and save the day in general. Also, Miranda put a tracker on Kai Leng, which gives us the location of the Illusive Man's base (why couldn't Liara have figured this out...ARGH!). And we head off on our merry way to meet him...and destiny!

Next weeks update is I think the second to last in this series, and I will forewarn you, it's a big one!

It's funny how you mention Shep's appearance in ME3, as you may have noticed the variance between my ME2 & 3 vids. The face import bug changed her a bit, which I actually think is an improvement, but strangely it made her look more like me! Different nose but much closer facial structure.Shep was designed to not be attractive as some people make her, but look like someone who's taken a few blows to the head and gone through spec-forces training. But, yeah, she does look really beautiful in some shots (my favourite is 2:36 here).

And I completely understand you before about running out of ideas. The same happens for me with my vids - I hadn't done any and then I got Leviathan and Omega and the new cutscenes inspired me (and completed 'gaps' I had in planned vids). You'll be back to ME eventually, you know this to be true :D

And I'm really digging the robo-countdown, got a few in there I hadn't head of!

And if I don't get a chance between now and then, Merry Xmas to you and yours Mr Fett :)

Nah, Sentinels are the way to go. It's just such a fun word to say. Sent-I-Nellll. See, fun. Plus, it's a class in so many games that I play. Though in Knights of the Old Republic, Sentinels are Infiltrators.

I think you may be right about Sanctuary, though. It does seem to have a different looking 'climate' than the colony, and it's easy to forget that Horizon is a whole planet.

I did notice that Shep changed a bit. When I did my ME2 run through to import for her, I made a guesstimate look (which ended up being very close, except for the cheeks and skin tone), except she won't import! My femsheps seem to almost never import at all. And male characters have, I guess I'll call it 'doglike' upper lips. Like upside down jowls.

Merry Xmas to you as well, and make sure your armored chimney flue is closed, and your surface to Santa missiles are active to keep Robot Santa at bay!